


Keys

by AlissaShawWrites



Series: How Sable Falls For A Spider [4]
Category: Spider-Man (Video Game 2018)
Genre: Blood and Injury, Cuties, Domestic Fluff, F/M, Fluff, Mild Blood, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Past Peter Parker/Mary Jane Watson, Past Relationship(s), Peter Parker Needs a Hug, Precious Peter Parker
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-22
Updated: 2019-03-22
Packaged: 2019-11-28 04:15:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,025
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18203384
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlissaShawWrites/pseuds/AlissaShawWrites
Summary: Left with no-where else to turn and the overwhelming emotions of a recent breakup trying to keep him down; Peter runs to his newfound safe house with his favourite violent mercenary. Somethings get a little out of hand at first.(For full series including bonus chapters, check out the multi-chapter fic on my page called 'How Sable Falls For a Spider")





	Keys

He called twice before the receiving end picked up and Sable barked out a sharp, “what?” 

“Sorry to bug you. I know you don't like me very much but can I ask for a favour?” 

“Oh, it’s you Spider-man.” The hostility in her voice seemed to dampen; though her attention was still away from him. “My apologies, I was sure you were going to be one of my men again even after I called for complete radio silence.”

He was about to begin questioning her when she spoke again, “favour? What is it you wanted?”

“Oh, right. I was just- no it’s dumb. I’ll deal with it later. Is there something I can help you with? I’m already suited up and ready to go.”

“I am on my way back to my apartment. Can you meet me there and we can discuss whatever it is you need?”

“About that,” Peter said, staring down at her front door from above. “I’m already here. I was actually hoping I could come in but you didn't answer when I knocked.” 

The line went dead without a response. She did that a lot so it was hard to tell when she was done talking with him, in a fight, or just plain angry with him. Hoping for the best; he stayed put on top of the opposing building’s roof.

He tried to distract himself and not let his mind wander back to MJ. He played a few games on his phone and responded to a few messages left by fans on his social media account. Of course; most of his time was spent attempting to avoid the sexually explicit posts from his fans; some of which he knew personally. Flash Thompson was fairly bad for that. He couldn’t imagine what his face would look like if Peter ever revealed his true identity, but that would never happen anyway as far as he was concerned. 

With his attention engrossed in his phone, he almost missed a cry of distress in the distance. When his senses fully came to him; he was up and running towards the sound before he could process what was happening. 

He made quick work of it. A few webs here and there and the would-be robbers were down for the count. The woman was shaken but otherwise unharmed. “T-Thank you Spiderman. If you hadn’t shown up-” 

“Don't worry about that. Your friendly neighbourhood Spidey will always be here. Would you like me to walk you home?” 

“I-I couldn't ask you to do that. You’ve already done enough.” 

Though she couldn't see it, he was grinning widely under the mask as he shooed away the thought. “Nonsense. It's no trouble. I'm waiting for someone anyway.” She didn't respond right away so he continued, “if it helps, I’d actually prefer walking you home to make sure you're safe.” 

“Then yes, please. I’d like that.” 

He picked her purse off the ground and handed it to her. She lead the way down the busy streets towards her apartment. Of course, they had to stop a few times for the people who wanted pictures or high fives from their favourite masked vigilante; as well as a few undeserved threats and criticisms that Spidey played off with a few quips. 

It was a nice walk otherwise, and quick at that. Her building was only a few streets away after all. She thanked him once more as they said their goodbyes before he could lift himself off of the ground with a carefully placed web. 

“Another job well done Spiderman,” he said to himself; almost laughing. It had been a long time since his usual brand of spider-themed justice was this simple. Post-Devils Breath, Sable, and MJ in Symkaria. He shook his head, trying not to think about it. 

His suit’s built-in phone rang. It was Sable. “Hey Sable,” he answered. 

“Where are you? I thought you were waiting for me?”

“Got caught up with some late afternoon butt-kicking. I’m on my way back right now.” As he approached her building, he noticed an open window on the second floor. “Speaking of, INCOMING!”

He landed gracefully on the other side of the window without touching the frame at all. “Impressive ri-” He was face to face with the business end of a pistol. “Whoops! Bad idea!”

“You idiot! You startled me! I could have killed you!” 

She didn’t shoot; thankfully, but instead threw the entire pistol straight at his face. He wished he could say he dodged, but the unexpected attack made him leap towards the blunt object instead of out of its way. “Ow! I’m sorry, that was my fault. My fault. My bad.”

His vision came back to him as he rubbed his temple. “S-Sable?” She stood before him with blood trickling down her front and dripping from loose fabric onto the tile floor of the bathroom. “What happened?!” 

“It doesn't matter. Wait in the family area while I dress my wounds”. 

“I’ll help.”

“I do not require assistance.”

“It looks bad. Please, it’s the least I could do after all you’ve done for me recently. FYI I’m calling the whole Devils Breath thing and then you saving me as us being even.”

She seemed to be weighing her options in her head before she finally sighed out a, “very well.”

Most of the visible blood seemed to be coming from long rips her clothing; and only when she started peeling off her jacket, did he truly see the extent of the damage. There were gashes all over her body; from what, he wasn’t exactly sure. The inside of her coat was soaked in blood and sweat and her body suit was worse. On the plus side, he was sure they were not life-threatening and all of the blood he was seeing was just an accumulation of both hers and whomever she had been in combat with. 

She never was one to lose a fight.

However; that only worried him further. Who was she fighting with? Are they still alive? More importantly; how long had she been like this? Were her wounds already infected?

“You should take off the,” he looked her up and down. “Shirt? Armour? Whatever that is off. So I can dress the wounds of course! Not because of, well, um.”

“I know why. You do not have to be so immature about it.” She tried to reach the zipper on the back but pulled away; gasping involuntarily at the pain. “My shoulder is dislocated. You need to push it back into place.”

“I don’t think I should do that.”

“Fine, I will do it myself.” 

“No! No, I’ll help. I’ve done it before… usually on myself too. Sit down and I’ll see what I can do.” 

She followed his instructions; putting the lid down on the toilet and took a seat. Peter pulled his mask off and crouched in front of her. “Look away and tell me what happened.” 

“You do not have to baby me. Just do it.” 

“Tell me what happened anyway.” 

“Hammerheads men. There were more than anticipated. After they bombed my ship I chased them.” 

“I remember,” Peter said; lightly gripping her dislocated arm. 

“Do not patronize me.” 

“Sorry.” 

“Stop apologizing as well. You sound like a broken record.” 

“Sorry. Oops, I mean sor- you know what? Just continue, please.” 

“Well as I was chasing them down I put a tracker on them. Similar to the one I put on your suit when I was not sure about your loyalty.” Peter nodded, not wanting to weigh in again. “I brought the remainder of my men left here in America that were not hospitalized after the attack. 

“It did not go well. They were in far greater numbers than I would have ever thought and with stronger weaponry. As horrible as my machinery is, it does not compare to what they have created from it. I do not understand how they could have-” She let out a painful, startled gasp and kicked the trash can at her feet to the other wall as Peter finally forced her bones back into place. 

The look of pain and shock took a few long seconds to fade from her features; but when it did, she let out a relieved sigh. “Much better. Thank you.”

“No problem. Rest your arm and let me do the work. Where’s your first aid kit?”

“Under the sink.”

He opened the cupboard a shuffled through it. There were surprisingly normal things in there. He wasn't entirely sure what he had expected, but hair care products and tampons were not exactly it. It didn’t take him long to find the very used medical kit tucked away in one corner. 

He started running some cloths under the slowly warming tap water. “Okay I need to, you know. Can you turn away for a second so I can get at the zipper easier?” She nodded and turned towards the door away from him. Being careful not to catch her hair; he unzipped her body suit and helped her pull the straps down over her arms fo it was bunched up at her waist. 

Peter blushed a bright red against his better judgement when he saw her bra. He knew it from the last time he had been in her apartment. The one he accidentally grabbed. The very same one he couldn't help himself from thinking about every now and again in the two days since it had happened. The only difference being the blood now painting most of it. 

Before things could get more awkward, he set off to work on her injuries. Once the excess blood was washed away, things began to look more manageable. It definitely wasn’t all her blood. Good and bad news he supposed.

It wasn’t long before all of her more obvious wounds were taken care of and Peter could start to relax. “Better?” he asked. 

“Much. You have my thanks Spider.”

“You know, that’s actually something I’ve been meaning to talk to you about.” He started cleaning up the discarded bandage wrappers and bloodied rags around the bathroom floor; trying to busy himself with small tasks to avoid eye contact with the woman getting dressed beside him. “Can you not call me that? Mostly my enemies call me ‘Spider’ as well as one very upsetting ex-girlfriend. 

I wouldn’t really call you my enemy anymore so I was hoping we could upgrade my nickname to something a little more friendly. Like maybe Spidey, or Spiderman, or when I’m not wearing a mask you could call me Peter.” 

“I believe I can do that, Peter.”

It almost surprised him to hear her so freely say his real name. Of course, it always sent a jolt of anxiety through him when someone said his name for fear of civilians hearing it. “T-Thanks. I prefer that much better.”

“I am going to shower now. You have my permission to stay downstairs until I am out. You never did tell me why you were here in the first place.”

“Oh yeah. I guess it slipped my mind after everything that happened. Listen,” he hushed his voice. “I don’t know the extent of what happened so I don’t want to just leave you and have you get light headed or something and fall in the shower. I'm not trying to be weird or gross or anything. I’d just prefer to know you're safe.” 

Though he never said it out loud, he was silently praying that she wouldn't be offended or angry, or worse; think of him as a pervert. 

She thankfully nodded. “Yes,” she agreed. “That is a good idea. Stand outside the door and should I begin to feel any worse than I already do; I will call you.” 

“Oh. Wow, I wasn't expecting that. Thanks. I’ll let you get your clothes together and stuff.” 

She rifled through her dresser drawers in the attached bedroom and shuffled back to the bathroom, closing the door behind her. The water started almost immediately. “Oh be careful of your bandages,” Peter called through the door. “I used the waterproof ones but you still should keep them out of the water as much as you can.”

She didn’t answer so he sat on the floor with his back on the door. “Come on you gotta talk to me so I know you’re ok.”

He had to strain his ears to hear it; even with his superior senses, but on the other side of the door, with water attempting to drown it out, was ever so soft humming. It was sweet and melodic. Nothing like he had ever heard from her before. 

He stayed quiet, closing his eyes and resting his head on the door just to listen a little closer. To focus on each bar and let it lull him into a feeling of security. He really did feel safer with her around now that she was on his side.

Peter was suddenly aware of how tired he was. He probably hadn't slept more than a couple hours since MJ returned. And he couldn't say he slept regularly before that either. He was up most nights worrying about her or distracting himself from worrying about her with Spidey work. 

He was just starting to doze off when he heard, “Peter?” 

“Yeah?”

“Are you going to tell me about why you were here anytime soon, or are you going to make me guess?” 

“I don't know anymore, Sable. I have to admit, I’m a little embarrassed.” 

“Aren't you always embarrassed? You should be.”

“Okay, rude.”

Her soft giggle was stifled by the door. 

“Fine, fine. I was actually going to ask; if it’s not to much trouble of course, If I could spend a couple of nights here. Even just one would be great if you don't mind.”

The water was shut off and her voice became much clearer, “what happened to your apartment?”

“Well, you see.” She sighed, already anticipating whatever stupid story he was about to attempt to explain. “I had an apartment after Devil's Breath but me and my landlord didn’t exactly get along. And by that I mean, he thought I was pushing drugs. He knew I didn’t have a stable job and I couldn’t exactly say that I worked for you. That just leads to so many more questions. So he was suspicious of where I was getting money; not to mention that I always was coming and going at weird times; always tired and usually with bruised knuckles or cuts all over my body.

“Honestly to me that doesn't exactly scream ‘drug dealer,’ but I guess I deal with them more than him. So he basically just kicked me out for no reason. I’d love to call him out on it but I also don't need cops trailing me in my personal life. 

“It didn't really matter to me either because MJ was really happy to have me move in with her. I only had a few things anyway. Not much time to shop as Spiderman and even less as Peter. So I just stayed at her place with the occasional dinners with a good family I know. I knew this kids dad. Worked with him until…” 

He trailed off, looking down at his blood covered suit. His throat got tighter and his heart sank a little. 

“That’s not important now,” she assured him. 

“Right. Anyway,” he sniffled. “MJ kicked me out yesterday. She said some things and I think it’s over for real this time.”

“I see.”

Peter sighed and rose from the floor on exhausted legs and turned towards the door. “You can say no. Don’t feel like I’m pressuring you or anything. I didn’t tell you that so you’d feel bad. I just thought I’d ask.”

The bathroom door swung open and Sable stepped past him; her long silver housecoat swaying behind her as she went. She seemed in better spirits than before, which was definitely a plus for Peter. Still not mad at him.

“Very well. You may stay, though you will have to stay on the couch downstairs. Do you have any additional clothes?”

“Funny story about that actually. I forgot what roof I stuck them too. So as of right now. No. No, I don’t.”

“You will have to get some tomorrow while we clean your suit. I’m not going to let you soil my furniture with weeks of sweat and blood. Here,” she handed him some clothes. 

“I’m not sure this is my style. I like a little splash of colour. A nice red and blue perhaps?” 

“Just change.” 

“You're the boss.” 

He found himself in the bathroom without another option than what she had given him. Silk camisole top with a bit of lace around the neckline and some very plain grey sweatpants. 

“I am rocking this outfit don't you think?” Peter asked, walking back out. He was suddenly blinded by a flash of light as she took a picture with what he assumed was her own Sable brand of cellphone.

“I am very impressed you are not embarrassed. The men in my country would be offended at the thought of wearing something so feminine.” 

“Well, I am a proud man. A little lace doesn't scare me. I'm just glad you liked it.” 

“I do. It will be here for you when you need it; should you ever need it again. I am not sure how regular of an occurrence this will be but it is here for you. As are these.” 

She held out her hand and in her palm were a set of keys. “Are these to your apartment?” She nodded. “You really think it's a good idea to let me start making house calls?” 

“Just for times like these. When you are tired with nowhere else to be. Now rest well. We have work to do tomorrow. Hammerheads men must be stopped, even if it’s just the two of us against all of them.” 

“Yes, Ma’am. Goodnight. They won't see what hit ‘em tomorrow.”

“No, they will not. Goodnight, Peter.” She closed the bedroom door behind him as he walked out.


End file.
